AirPlains Airline is a new airline company that maintains a schedule of two daily flights each way between Salt Lake City, Denver, and Chicago. AirPlains Airline must strategically position itself as a low-cost provider in a volatile industry. Therefore, it must work toward finding a minimum cost for assigning flight crews to a given flight schedule while satisfying restrictions dictated by the Federal Aviation Administration. Using Excel Solver, determine all the possible crew rotations based on the flight schedule below. You will want to find an approximate expected cost of each combination and then solve the original crew scheduling problem by using these costs. Second, you will want to calculate the crew constraints to determine the decision variables, constraints, and objectives. Apply the following business rules (constraints) to your model:
- A crew that leaves a city in the morning has to return to the same city at night.
- The crew can return on another airplane. There are six airplanes in use. There is 1 crew
- When a crew is flying, the cost is $200 per hour. When a crew is waiting or returning, the cost is $75 per hour.
The AirPlains Airline flight schedule is as follows:
From To Departure Arrival
Salt Lake City Denver 9:00AM 12:00PM
Salt Lake City Denver 2:00PM 5:00PM
Salt Lake City Chicago 10:00AM 2:00PM
Salt Lake City Chicago 3:00PM 7:00PM
Denver Salt Lake City 8:00AM 11:00AM
Denver Salt Lake City 2:00PM 5:00PM
Denver Chicago 9:00AM 11:00AM
Denver Chicago 3:00PM 5:00PM
Chicago Salt Lake City 8:00AM 12:00PM
Chicago Salt Lake City 2:00PM 6:00PM
Chicago Denver 10:00AM 12:00PM
Chicago Denver 4:00PM 6:00PM